Whooping cough cases up

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The number of cases of whooping cough in the East of England has increased nine-fold in past year in the biggest outbreak of the infection for 20 years. So far this year there have been 943 cases in the region compared with just 104 in the whole of 2011.

Nationally three babies died of whooping cough in October according to the Health Protection Agency bringing the total this year to 13. The number of confirmed cases in England and Wales this year is now 7,728. In 2011, the total number of cases was 819.

Click here for more information about whooping cough from the NHS website